EuroMillions winner ‘Maggie Millions’ had given relatives £1million each before she was found dead
EuroMillions winner ‘Maggie Millions’ had given relatives £1m each from her £27m lottery jackpot and had just finished her dream home when she was found dead at 56
Maragret Loughrey, 56, scooped the EuroMillions top prize eight years agoBought the ticket that landed the windfall on way home from the Job Centre She has since handed family members £1million each and renovated a house
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EuroMillions winner ‘Maggie Millions’ had given relatives £1million each and had just finished her dream home when she was found dead at 56 yesterday.
Margaret Loughrey scooped the EuroMillions top prize eight years ago but famously said it had ‘destroyed her’.
She bought the ticket that landed the windfall when she was walking back to her bungalow from the Job Centre, where she was living on benefits of just £58-a-week.
Ms Loughrey later gifted family members £1million each and handed neighbours on her council estate in Strabane, Northern Ireland, £5,000.
Paul Gallagher, a neighbour and local councillor, told the Belfast Telegraph Ms Loughrey had just transformed a derelict house nicknamed ‘the barn’ into her dream home with a ’round tin roof’.
He added: ‘She had been living in a bungalow next to it and the barn was just finished, I believe. It’s a pity she didn’t get to enjoy her new home.’
Margaret Loughrey (pictured), 56, scooped the EuroMillions top prize eight years ago but famously said it had ‘destroyed her’
After the windfall, Ms Loughrey was dubbed ‘Maggie Millions’ and bought a property empire including a £125,000 bungalow (pictured), a pub and a former mill turned leisure centre
When she won the lottery she had been at the Job Centre living on benefits of just £58-a-week and got ticket on a whim
After the windfall, Ms Loughrey was dubbed ‘Maggie Millions’ and bought a property empire including a £125,000 bungalow, a pub and a former mill turned leisure centre.
But she was sectioned four months after the draw and later said ‘if there is a hell, I have been in it. It has been that bad’.
Ms Loughrey later claimed people had ‘stolen millions’ from her adding ‘I regret winning the lottery, of course I do. I was a happy person before. I am a human being and all it has done is destroy my life.’
At the most recent count she said she only had £5million left and said ‘you can’t take your money with you. There is no shroud with pockets.’
Her sudden death is not being treated as suspicious and is a tragic end to her years of troubles. She is not thought to have ever married but is survived by her four brothers and sister.
Ms Loughrey bought Herdman’s Mill in Sion Mills in 2014, but it was targeted by fires and vandalism and brought her grief with locals. Right, more recently she had planned to turn local pub The Greyhound Bar into ‘The Back Street Bar’
The lottery winner had stayed living in her £125,000 bungalow, despite her fortune
Paul Gallagher, a neighbour and local councillor, told the Belfast Telegraph Ms Loughrey had just transformed a derelict house nicknamed ‘the barn’ into her dream home with a ’round tin roof’ (pictured left next door to her bungalow)
Ms Loughrey landed the huge win after matching five numbers and two lucky stars but had years of troubles. Pictured outside court after being convicted of assaulting a taxi driver
Officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland rushed to her home in Strabane yesterday after reports she had died suddenly.
An ambulance was called but nothing could be done and she was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Ms Loughrey landed the huge win after matching five numbers and two lucky stars in the draw in November 2013, scooping £26,863,588.
She told the BBC at the time: ‘I got up on Wednesday morning, checked the ticket — I just had a notion — and that was it: five numbers, two stars, happy days.
‘I never panicked. I’m level-headed and I know I’ll think it all through and do the right thing, see to the right people. It’s in my name at the minute. It’s £27m. It’s not going to be mine — it’s going to be spread around.’
Following her tragic death, a PSNI spokesman would only say: ‘Police received a report of the sudden death of a woman at the Ballycolman Lane area of Strabane on Thursday September 2.
‘A post-mortem is due to take place but at this stage, the death is not being treated as suspicious.’
The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service confirmed they also attended the house on Thursday morning.
A NIAS spokesman said: ‘We were called to an emergency in the Ballycolman area of Strabane at 10.30am this morning. No patients were taken from the scene.’
The lottery win brought Ms Loughrey nothing but trouble and she vowed to spread her good fortune around.
She said at the time: ‘No point having £27m and being lonely. That can’t make me happy, that can only make me happy that everybody else’s happy and so far everybody is absolutely delighted.’
But within four months of the win she was sectioned before winning her appeal against the mental health ruling.
She bought Herdman’s Mill in Sion Mills in 2014, but it was targeted by fires and vandalism.
Ms Loughrey locked horns with Sion Mills Cricket Club and at one point locked them out of their pitch on the grounds.
They eventually came to an agreement they could use it and had done since without incident.
Then in 2015 Ms Loughrey was ordered to do 150 hours of community service after being convicted of assaulting a taxi driver.
She told JPs she could not remember anything about the alcohol-fuelled attack in May that year.
Strabane Magistrates’ Court was told that Loughrey was ‘highly intoxicated’ after drinking vodka at a friend’s house when the altercation took place.
The prosecution lawyer said: ‘The driver picked her up at an address in Sion Mills and took her to her home. She then shouted at him that she had no keys to get into her house.
‘The injured party tried to gain access to the address but when he returned to his taxi the defendant refused to get out of the car.’
The lottery winner then grabbed a hold of the taxi driver’s glasses, breaking them. She also tore his sat-nav from the vehicle’s windscreen and threw a book she’d found in the back seat at him.
Instead of asking her to leave, the cabbie opted to drive to the town’s police station, handing her over to officers.
Even then she continued to behave both aggressively and was argumentative.
She was physically restrained before being taken from the car into the police headquarters.
Then in September last year an employment tribunal found she had mocked an employee’s religion and should pay him £30,000.
She was found to have discriminated against former general assistant Patrick Breslin.
The Court of Appeal upheld a Fair Employment Tribunal’s verdict that she subjected the devout Catholic to a ‘corrosive’ campaign of control and humiliation.
More recently she had planned to turn local pub The Greyhound Bar into ‘The Back Street Bar’ after buying it.
She also intended to build homes on her land which would be affordable to people.
Ms Loughrey said: ‘I’m looking for a bit of land in Strabane to build affordable homes there and in Sion Mills.
‘A mortgage would be easy enough to get for those. I am looking to build 18 of those homes. You can’t take your money with you. There is no shroud with pockets.’
Then speaking in 2019, Ms Loughrey said ‘money has brought me nothing but grief. It has destroyed my life.
‘I have had six years of this. I don’t believe in religion, but if there is a hell, I have been in it. It has been that bad.’